Out of all the social media channels out there Twitter engrosses me the most, I simply love its simple yet highly effective way of distributing content across its platform – I find the setup highly addictive. For each and everyone of the businesses I have launched I have always prioritised my efforts on Twitter compared to any other social media channel, building and engaging with a target audience in order to drive brand awareness to my business in question.
I now have around 15 Twitter accounts that I own from my own personal account @ChrisWalkey to one for each of the businesses that I run including some back up accounts that are targeted to one aspect of the industry that I am in. With millions of active users around the world it proves to be a valuable marketing tool to drive potential business leads and new subscribers to online businesses.
For everyone of the accounts that I own I have taken to following steps in order to grow my following:
- Grab yourself that all important username. Today it is very hard to get the exact name you are after and you will have to compromise no doubt by abbreviating or adding a digit or Co / LTD after the name you are after as someone else will already have taken it. Twitter in the past have helped me acquire accounts that were in use though I had a licence to use the name, ie I used to own @MarketmeTV until I asked Twitter about @Marketme which at the time was owned by someone else who had last tweeted several years ago – They quickly sorted the situation out by swapping @MarketmeTV over to @Marketme which was a massive help to that business I can tell you! Twitter today are a little less approachable, though if you have any licences / registrations to your business name and someone else has your @username then always attempt to contact Twitter just in case they can help – An exact Twitter username for your business can really increase both the success you get from using Twitter and also adds value to your overall business.
- Brand yourself correctly. Set you Twitter account up to look professional so that you give confidence to other users to both follow you and engage with the content you share – People like to know they are following the genuine person / business in question so make sure they feel comfortable that it is you they are following! Header image should be 1500px by 500px and should reflect what you are about such as including your business logo and / or an image of the products / service you offer (please try and not use stock images). Your icon should ideally be your business logo. Your description should be share what your business is about with keywords having hashtags. Make sure your contact details are up to date.
- Tell people you are using Twitter. When you initially launch you will have zero followers so what ever you tweet will only be read by yourself unless people are searching for keywords within your tweet and then they may see you. I always place Twitter icons on my websites, in my email signatures, newsletters so that people start to see you are alive and kicking on Twitter and may take the time to pop over to the platform, find you and follow you.
- Share content. Though initially you may be shouting out to nobody or very few people, start to populate your Twitter timeline with useful updates that those you would like to follow you will find entertaining, educational or engaging. Try and be consistent and post daily and use images when you can and hashtags for keywords.
- Following. A big way and to me the best way to gain followers is to simple start following accounts which you hope will in turn follow you back. This formula works wonders is your Twitter account directly offers a product / service to the accounts you are following. For instance one of my businesses helps Champagne & Sparkling Wine labels to gain exposure in the UK so we simply followed Champagne & Sparkling Wine labels from across the globe that were on Twitter – Usually more than half would follow back as they see the potential of us helping them increasing their businesses.
- Tagging. Another great way to raise the attention of those you wish to connect with on Twitter is to tag them in posts you share. Be careful not to seem as if you are purely spamming, you need to be conservative and respectful here, but done correctly those accounts which have been tagged will usually engage with the tweet be it a like, share, comment or even a follow. Some accounts you will not be able to tag in to images due to their privacy options.
- Getting in to conversation and activities with other Tweets. Do not be purely focused on sharing your own content, a great way to raise awareness of your presence on Twitter is to comment on, share, like other accounts tweets – Research those accounts on Twitter you would like to engage with and have follow you, look at their updates and support them by liking and re-tweeting.
Now that your Twitter account is well underway you need to continue the above efforts as if you slow down and take a break away from Twitter you will lose followers, generally if an account has been silent for a week or more then people will not see it as worth following or assume their might be an issue in-house.
Going forwards make sure you check your Twitter regularly during the day and be responsive as quick as possible to any direct messages or comments on your tweets. Thank those who re-tweet you and share your content and try and return the favour if possible.